DETROIT >> Sometimes, you can keep hope alive. Other times, there’s no point in doing so.

The Detroit Tigers held out a sliver of hope that Jose Iglesias, whose shin splints degenerated into stress fractures in both legs, might — oh, maybe, just maybe — return for this season.

But all along, they’ve maintained that it was very, very unlikely, and that they were planning as if he would not play in 2014.

A doctor’s appointment this week merely confirmed that thought. He’s done until 2015.

“I think the report today was the turning point. If we’d gotten better news, there would have been an outside shot he could come back,” manager Brad Ausmus said. “But the news wasn’t bad. He’s getting better but this news or worse kind of eliminated him from the rest of the season.”

General manager Dave Dombrowski was careful from the outset not to let there be too much hope, so there wouldn’t be too much disappointment when it turned out to be false hope.

“He is not going to come back, as we had anticipated all year long. He continues to make progress, the doctor is happy with the progress he’s made, but at this point he has basically been ruled out for the season, at this time,” Dombrowski said.

“We had always thought that, but we had maintained maybe a little bit of hope there. But really not counting on it.

“But that has been clearly decided.”

Iglesias had shin issues before he was acquired at last year’s trade deadline from the Boston Red Sox, but he was able to play through them. They worsened this spring to the point that he could not play through the pain.

He was checked out, then got a second opinion from specialist Dr. Thomas Clanton.

As definitive as Wednesday’s confirmation was, there’s still the expectation that Iglesias will be ready to return next season.

“They think he’ll be fine for ‘15. Really, the report on him has not changed at all from spring training. It really was the same report. He was at the three-month time frame that he went in to get tested at that point. Which he did, he went in to see the doctor. The doctor thought he was progressing. The treatments are continuing to come through,” Dombrowski said.

“At this point, by the time he would go back and see them again, which is the middle of August, even if he was cleared at that time, he wouldn’t have time to be ready for the season. At this point, the doctor feels he’ll be ready for 2015, yes.”